J Peg + RAW (settings help required please)

My new ish camera takes Jpeg + RAW very useful but I am not sure about the settings for Jpeg. The camera is able to take jpeg shots at 15 megapixels but that is far larger than I need so I have it set to 6mp. What I want to know is does the setting for the jpeg effect in any way the settings for RAW? Can’t find this in the hand book so assume that the RAW are taken at the highest available number of pixels regardless of the jpeg setting, am I right or deluded.

take some photos and look at the RAW resolution.

If the a x b = 15Mpixels then no, it has not had any affect.

(if your images are say 4000 x 3000 then that would = 12 Mpixels.)

Alan.

Now why did I not think of that. If I can ask a supplementary question do people do as I have been and take both if the camera will, and if so why have they made that choice.

I've taken both at once - purely to give a client a take away proof disk with all jpeg images on it directly after a shoot. I am then requested which images are needed, I will then 'process' the corresponding RAW files. This cuts down loads of wasted work hours.

I did experiment with saving both raw & Jpeg but after a week found it was a waste of time.

I found myself processing the raw files in Lightroom and not touching the Jpegs. So I just shoot in Raw.

Steve

Good idea Jack, although I never let anyone see my 'unprocessed images' lol

Out of interest try shooting in RAW then converting to Jpeg. The meg pixel count really drops. I did it and in RAW read around 15 mp after converting to Jpeg reading around 3/4MPp. That on my Nikon d200.
So for me its either Raw or Jpeg, but even in Jpeg fine it still depends on mirror lockup for maximum pixels.

Having said that I still have my 2Mp kodak p/s camera producing good A4 prints, and it still takes good pictures, so do the number of pixels really matter unless doing large prints?

Bazza

I am not sure I understand the correlation between Mirror lockup and Pixel count Bazza?

Alan.

Glad you said that, thought it was my ignorance as I thought lock up was to do with shutter release time but I may have that wrong as well.

I take jpeg + RAW I then use the jpeg for this and other forums and to show people then if the shot is to be printed or used for some other purpose I use the RAW. Also if I have a shot where the subject and composition is OK but the photographer was rubbish at the settings I will try to rescue with the RAW otherwise it is often that I just keep them, the RAW, in case I wish to revert to the basic original at any stage.

The reason I asked the question was because I did not wish to diminish the quality of the RAW in case I ever took that shot I was totally pleased with only to find I did not have in any bigger than a A4.

There is no reason you can't print big from a jpeg taken on camera, I only shoot jpeg and print big all the time, 18"x12" or 16"x12". I've even got an A1 canvas printed from a jpeg on my D40 at 6mp that is as good a quality as you could want. I use my prints in competitions, and where the quality of the print is examined minutely as much as the picture itself. In fact I've just had a print accepted into the Southport International Exhibition shot on jpeg and printed 18"x12", as an aside that is 1 point towards getting *BPE1 after my name

You can shoot jpeg, edit in the 'shop and print big, the loss of data that is quoted as the reason not to shoot jpeg isn't noticeable. Yes if you keep editing a jpeg and then saving as a jpeg somewhere down the line you will see artefacts, but who would do that? If you are editing in between working on it you will save as a psd so there will be no loss between edits. Once the shot is in the 'shop whether its raw or jpeg is irrelevant, as it's a psd and not the format you shot it as.